The above presentation is based on my phd research, which is entitled "Academic literacies, through the writing of assignments, in a per-service primary education programme: Student and staff perspectives". This presentation reports on practices that staff and students identified as helpful and unhelpful for students writing their assignments. This presentation outlines some similarities and differences in responses between: students and staff, students in their first and second year of study, and the on-campus and distance students. It emerged that there were less differences in what staff and students considered helpful and unhelpful between students and staff in the second year than the first.